Ending: Atonement
by Jimmawww
Summary: A bad ending for 2B and 9S. Contains spoilers. I was generally displeased with the lack of bad endings in Automata, so I decided to write my own.


It was hot in the desert.

A hot, numb kind of feeling as 2B dragged 9S's rotting corpse through the desert heat, the bits of scrap and rotting flesh clung to the half-decomposed body. The bone and circuitry beneath were visible amidst the disheveled YORHA uniform and mangled limbs. 2B stared listlessly into the distance with a few meager thoughts...

'Don't worry 9S, we're almost there'

9S made the reply of shifting sand. 2B had also started to become disheveled as her YORHA uniform was torn and rested on her body lazily, the blouse loose and a strap hanging down on one side. Sand clung to her open wounds and dirtied her wind-tussled hair. Any moisture was sucked from the air, cracking her bloody lips. It had been 9 days wandering the desert, and each day felt hotter.

'Is this my punishment?' thought 2B.

'For all the times I chose to kill 9S?'

'Has God given me this weight to carry, so I can atone for my sins?'

The thought gave some kind of vague meaning to 2B's suffering, some feeling of... validation.

'Yes, only God, who would see all of humanity annihilated, his precious lambs slaughtered, could execute such cruelty.'

Cryptic as the meaning was, 2B sought meaning in it, something 9S would have done naturally, a quality 2B always envied and admired.

And now what was 9S? What could he do or say?

He lied there uselessly, his speech gone, his ideas gone, his "soul" gone.

But 2B didn't believe his soul was gone, it was still here, it HAD to be.

It was 9S.

It was the only thing that gave her life meaning, something beyond her mundane self, so he couldn't be gone, even if 9S wasn't "alive" 2B knew she had to hang on to his body, because it was where his soul resided, and one day it might come back.

Besides it was… a very beautiful body.

2B couldn't even remember clearly what had happened, the only thing she recalled was a beam of light in corner of her eye. She had been paying attention to 9S talking exuberantly about…. Something and whatever it was that fired 9S ran to intercept it. It was then everything became a blur of noise, and a thousand different thoughts rang out.

'Why didn't you do something is this it wait no no! is that 9S what is he doing? Is he okay this is all your fault! No he's okay it's a joke how this happen this isn't real please wake up.'

Then it came back to her, how she clearly recalled 9S's face, his light blue smiling eyes how they seemed to contract and the colour fade from his face. How his body seemed to fall out from under him, like falling from a building, falling from her. And after that how he just lay there jittering, eyes frantically searching, nothing but a tangible desperation, his breathing filled with danger and fear.

All 2B remembered is fear shooting up her primary spinal sensors like a blade of ice, her knees buckling under her own pressure, as if her respirator had malfunctioned and all O2 had escaped she fell beside his trying to remember how to breathe.

9S's eyes were darting around frantically, as if his eye circuits had failed him, afraid that he was looking for her in his darkness she clutched his hand and kneeled over his head. 9S was shaking almost uncontrollably, as if his life was struggling to stay in his body but also escaping at the same time, it looked extremely painful. That's when she felt it, some kind of oil or liquid started to flow around her optical sensors and blur her vision. The pain she saw in 9S was so strong it was if she was feeling it as well.

2B wanted to say she was here and everything was okay but all she could get out was a garbled 'Ni-gh-' amidst fluids flowing in her vocal unit.

'2….*cough* B?'

2B finally allowed herself to clear her throat to respond.

'Nines!'

'Oh, you're….. here…. you gotta…. laser beam.'

'It's okay, I'm fine but you blocked it.'

'I…. did?'

'I'm fine Nines! But you….. you…..'

2B allowed herself to actually look at the damage.

The blast had torn through 9S's chest and most of his upper chest was vaporized, 2B could see his black box stick out amidst the wiring, warped by the heat and covered in charred metal. It smelt like the factory.

2B could only let out a gasp as the chilling sensation flowed through her circuits.

9S heaved to speak.

'I…m sorry.'

'I wanted *cough* to make sure noth…ing bad *cough* ha. Happened.'

2B could barley speak, trying to listen to 9S as she felt warm liquid tickling her cheeks. She could only respond by gripping his hand tighter.

'You're…. scaring me… *cough* *cough* 2…B.'

2B allowed herself to breath and clear her throat.

'Don't worry... you're going to be alright'

'I can't feel my... sh-shoulder'

All 2B could see was the gaping hole in 9S's side, and speculate what kind of pain 9S was in.

'I can't... *cough* f... feel'

The molten wiring was progressively melting into his black box.

9S started finding it hard to breathe, his voice sounded like he was speaking through a static microphone.

'My... p-pain circuits...'

9S's eyes started dilating and began to dart around.

2B understood that 9S's circuits had started shutting off, due to pain overload.

2B cupped his face and turned it towards her so he could see her, his eyes still filled with fear and confusion.

'9S'

'2... B?'

The sound of his voice cracking sent an uncontrolled wave of cold spikes in her back circuits, he was getting worse. And she didn't think it was possible for him to take much more.

His eyes still jittering, looking past her, his face contorted into a wounded expression, he made out one word.

'Why?'

2B gulped.

'Nines, listen to me... no matter what I...'

A hundred-million options ran through 2B's thought circuits.

'I love you!'

'W-what?'

2B took a heavy breath and repeated herself.

'I love you!'

9S made no response, his eyes glazed over.

2B gripped the back of his head and raised her voice to make sure he would hear her.

'I love you!'

She thought that if he hears that he means everything to her, he would stay alive.

9S's eyes remained void and his chest started to produce a series of tones and white noise.

she repeated again.

'I love you! I love you! I love you!'

Eventually the tones began to reach a high pitch followed by a popping sound. His body went semi-limp in the following silence.

She repeated again, this time holding him tightly.

'I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you!'

2B became lost in her own logic loop, the only option to save 9S was to tell him she loved him.

She did this for a while until she began to regard that 9S was no longer 'there'. His main program or 'life' had ceased and the thing she was cradling and crying into was just a bundle of wires, metals, and fluids that represented him but were not him. This cognitive dissonance created a logic error in 2B and she let out a scream that didn't sound human or machine. She didn't remember exactly what happened after that but when her main routines came back into perspective the surrounding city blocks had been demolished.

She had ran this memory cycle almost consistently since its occurrence, trying to find an answer to her logic errors. Unfortunately she could not form a conclusion and brought 9S's body with her hoping to encounter an external variable that would generate a solution. She remained operational for 145,598 days, 11 hours, 38 minutes, and 10 seconds until her core operations ceased. She had crossed into a mountainous region in perpetual darkness, stopping in a half-walking head-slumped position while she was still holding onto what was left of 9S. It was mostly the lower torso with a trail of parts and clothing extending into the horizon. It took an additional ~20,000 annual cycles for their bodies to fully decompose.

Ending: [A]tonement


End file.
